Tag Archives: Second Light Network of Women Poets

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Artemis pouring a libation, c. 460-450 BCE photo courtesy of Jastrow and generously released into the public domain

“So many more women have found now their voice. Let’s celebrate poets who excite us, from Emily Bronte (say) to Jorie Graham (say). We can also start thinking seriously about differences and about inflated reputations. Let’s be wary about ‘celebrity status’. This tends to narrows true appreciation. Read voraciously. Include lesser known poets and dead poets. You will be impressed by how much exciting writing is on offer.” Convener (Founder) of Second Light Network of Women Poets, Dilys Wood, in an interview in The Poet by Day HERE.

SECOND LIGHT POETRY COMPETITION is open for entries of poetry by women on August 6th. The competition includes first prizes for best long length poem [no length limit] and best short length poem, as well as 2nd and 3rd prizes and commendations publication in ARTEMISpoetry magazine for all these [or extracts in the case of long poems]. Also readings to prize winners and commended poets. For full details got to Second Light Live HERE.

UPDATE: I’ve published the announcement on this competition twice, once HERE and then again yesterday included in Opportunity Knocks. According to the guidelines HERE: “Poems on any subject. Must be the unaided work of the writer and must not have been previously published unless in a magazine only.” I asked for clarification and Myra Schneider and Dilys Wood confirmed that “magazine” includes Zines and personal blogs. Good news for those of us who publish online and have been included in digital publications. Note the deadline is August 4th but you may submit via email, so go for it. Good luck.

ARTEMISpoetry is the bi-annual journal (May and November) of the Second Light Network of Women Poets, published under their Second Light Publications imprint. Members receive a copy as part of their membership benefits. Issues are available to non-members by subscription at £9 p.a. or as a one-off purchase at £5 a copy (plusp&p).

Cheque payable to “Second Light” and send to Administrator, Anne Stewart at 20 Clovelly Way, Orpington, Kent, BR6 0WD. Please use the Subscription order form and include your telephone number with your order in case of query. Or you can subscribe online here. Enquire for back copies and/or Sold Out issues as pdf for £4 (e-mail Administrator editor@poetrypf.co.uk).

Submission Guidelines

Submission is open to women only, including non-members. We aim to publish new work, so submissions should be unpublished (by ‘published’ we mean: in print, on the internet or by way of media broadcast or on CD), and not ‘out in submission’ elsewhere, whether to magazines or competitions.

Poems: Issue 23 deadline – 31st August 2019

Poems by women of any age. Poems should be typed, or if written, then very neatly. Each poem should commence on a new page, headed “Submission for ARTEMISpoetry”. Please SEND TWO COPIES. Do include your name with each poem and include your name and full contact details in your submission. Long poems are considered. Submit up to 4 poems to a maximum of 200 lines in all. Our line counts are for poem (and any footnote) text lines only, so excluding titles and breaks.

Contributors whose poetry is accepted will be notified by 31st October 2019.

Poetry Editor: Anne Stewart, whose latest collection is The Last Parent, published in April this year by Second Light Publications. She has an MA (Dist.) in Creative Writing from Sheffield Hallam. Awards include The Bridport Prize (2008), the Southport Poetry Prize, the Silver Wyvern (Poetry on the Lake, Italy), and a Hawthornden Fellowship. She created and runs the poet showcase site poetry p f. More at Anne’s website.

Artwork: Issue 23 deadline is 14th September 2019

Black/white photographs or line-art, maximum of 4 pieces. Please give a title for each work. We are looking to include a wide range of subject-matter and style. Images which work best have good definition and contrast. … Paper copy to Dilys Wood (as above)

Contributors whose artwork is accepted will be notified by 31st October 2019.

A busy though bed-bound poet, writer, former columnist and the former associate editor of a regional employment newspaper, my work has been featured widely in print and digital publications including: Levure littéraire, Ramingo’s Porch, Vita Brevis Literature, HerStry, Connotation Press,The Bar None Group, Salamander Cove, I Am Not a Silent Poet, Meta/ Phor(e) /Play, Woven Tale Press, The Compass Rose and California Woman.

I run The Poet by Day, a curated info hub for poets and writers. I founded The Bardo Group/Beguines, a virtual literary community and publisher of The BeZine of which I am the founding and managing editor. Among others, I’ve been featured on The MethoBlog, on the Plumb Tree’s Wednesday Poet’s Corner, and several times as Second Light Live featured poet.

Email me at thepoetbyday@gmail.com for permissions or commissions.

Thank you for sharing your love of words. Comments will appear after moderation.

“I believe the role of the poet is to reflect on human experience and the world we live in and to articulate it for oneself and others. Many people who suffer a loss or go through a trauma feel a need for poetry to give voice to their grief and to support them through a difficult time. When an atrocity is committed poems are a potent way of expressing shock and anger, also of bearing witness. I think that the poet can write forcefully, using a different approach from a journalist, about subjects such as climate change, violence, abuse and mental illness and that this is meaningful to others. I very much believe too that poetry is a way of celebrating life. I think it deserves a central place in our world.” Myra Schneider in an interview on The Poet by Day HERE.

Myra reminds us that Second Light’s Poetry competition will close for entries on August 4th”

“WOMEN POETS – Still just time to enter the Second Light Poetry Competition 2019 Online entries accepted CLOSING DATE AUGUST 6TH. The competition includes first prizes for best long length poem [no length limit] and best short length poem, as well as 2nd and 3rd prizes and commendations publication in ARTEMISpoetry magazine for all these [or extracts in the case of long poems].
Also readings to prize winners and commended poets.
For full details got to Second Light Live HERE.”

A busy though bed-bound poet, writer, former columnist and the former associate editor of a regional employment newspaper, my work has been featured widely in print and digital publications including: Levure littéraire, Ramingo’s Porch, Vita Brevis Literature, HerStry, Connotation Press,The Bar None Group, Salamander Cove, I Am Not a Silent Poet, Meta/ Phor(e) /Play, Woven Tale Press, The Compass Rose and California Woman.

I run The Poet by Day, a curated info hub for poets and writers. I founded The Bardo Group/Beguines, a virtual literary community and publisher of The BeZine of which I am the founding and managing editor. Among others, I’ve been featured on The MethoBlog, on the Plumb Tree’s Wednesday Poet’s Corner, and several times as Second Light Live featured poet.

Email me at thepoetbyday@gmail.com for permissions or commissions.

Thank you for sharing your love of words. Comments will appear after moderation.

“I run a network for women poets and naturally I want our members to be treated equitably, with recognition of any woman’s potential to be in the top flight of creative artists.

“Some poets feel that ‘male and female he made them’ should not be an issue. I disagree because I want to celebrate and gain personal inspiration from the last fifty years. There has been a vastly increased involvement of women as students of poetry, published poets, book purchasers and consumers of ‘products’ such as poetry festivals. I also want it debated why this has not meant equality of treatment by journals.” Dilys Wood interview with Jamie Dedes

I wasn’t there at day one but it’s a joyous thing to be an American member of Second Light Network of Women Poets (Second Light Live) on its 25th Anniversary and to happily extend appreciation to Myra Schneider who introduced me to this extraordinary effort, to Dilys Wood for her vision and her founding of the SLN, to Anne Stewart for her many and varied contributions, and to the other members, talented, hard-working, prolific, and often courageous.

SLN hosts events, sponsores classes, including remote classes (i.e., distance learning), and publishes books and ARTEMISpoetry journal. The network is for women only. The poetry is for everyone.

Second Light Poetry Competition for Long and Short Poems by Women 2019 – now open to women internationally

JUDGE KATE FOLEY‘s background includes work as a nurse, midwife, teacher and archaeological conservator. She has published ten poetry collections, most recently Electric Psalms, New and Collected Poems (Shoestring 2016) and A Gift of Rivers(Arachne, 2018). She is the in-coming President of Suffolk Poetry Society.

£300 First Prize for each of Long (no upper limit) and Short (max 50 lines) poems

£150 Second Prize (1 poem from either category)

£75 Third Prize (1 poem from either category)

Winning & Commended Poems published (in full or extract) in ARTEMISpoetry

Winners offered a London reading.

Deadline 6th August.

Entry: £6 each per long poem. Short poems: £4 each or £9 for 3, £14 for 8. Enter by post (2 copies) or online.
**Members are entitled to one free entry into the competition. Join now to be eligible.** (see About Second Light/Joining)
more: Rules & Entry

A busy though bed-bound poet, writer, former columnist and the former associate editor of a regional employment newspaper, my work has been featured widely in print and digital publications including: Levure littéraire, Ramingo’s Porch, Vita Brevis Literature, HerStry, Connotation Press,The Bar None Group, Salamander Cove, I Am Not a Silent Poet, Meta/ Phor(e) /Play, Woven Tale Press, The Compass Rose and California Woman. I run The Poet by Day, a curated info hub for poets and writers. I founded The Bardo Group/Beguines, a virtual literary community and publisher of The BeZine of which I am the founding and managing editor. Among others, I’ve been featured on The MethoBlog, on the Plumb Tree’s Wednesday Poet’s Corner, and several times as Second Light Live featured poet.

Email me at thepoetbyday@gmail.com for permissions or comissions.

“Every pair of eyes facing you has probably experienced something you could not endure.” Lucille Clifton

Thank you for sharing your love of words. Comments will appear after moderation.

English Poet Myra Schneider at her 80th Birthday celebration and the launch of her 12th collection

“I think that the poet can write forcefully, using a different approach from a journalist, about subjects such as climate change, violence, abuse and mental illness and that this is meaningful to others. I very much believe too that poetry is a way of celebrating life. I think it deserves a central place in our world.” Myra Schneider

Plant yourself in the quiet on a familiar floor
or on an uncut summer lawn

and, thinking of seabirds, stretch out your arms,
let them ascend through the unresisting air.

Myra’s poetry collection, Lifting The Sky “explores the theme of survival in many contexts: from the perils facing refugees and survivors of war to the detailed and tender mating ritual of endangered seahorses.

Threats to the environment are balanced by the preservation of delicate objects in ancient burial sites such as Sutton Hoo, which is also a meditation about death.

The narrative sequence Edge is a tour de force, presenting a diary of artistic and emotional breakdown due to depression followed by healing and restored creativity.” Ward Wood Publishing

Myra Schneider said in an interview HERE, that “I believe the role of the poet is to reflect on human experience and the world we live in and to articulate it for oneself and others. Many people who suffer a loss or go through a trauma feel a need for poetry to give voice to their grief and to support them through a difficult time. When an atrocity is committed poems are a potent way of expressing shock and anger, also of bearing witness. I think that the poet can write forcefully, using a different approach from a journalist, about subjects such as climate change, violence, abuse and mental illness and that this is meaningful to others. I very much believe too that poetry is a way of celebrating life. I think it deserves a central place in our world.”

ABOUT

Poet and writer, I was once columnist and associate editor of a regional employment publication. I currently run this site, The Poet by Day, an information hub for poets and writers. I am the managing editor of The BeZine published by The Bardo Group Beguines (originally The Bardo Group), a virtual arts collective I founded. I am a weekly contributor to Beguine Again, a site showcasing spiritual writers. My work is featured in a variety of publications and on sites, including: Levure littéraure, Ramingo’s Porch, Vita Brevis Literature,Compass Rose, Connotation Press, The Bar None Group, Salamander Cove, Second Light, I Am Not a Silent Poet, Meta / Phor(e) /Play, and California Woman. My poetry was recently read byNorthern California actor Richard Lingua for Poetry Woodshed, Belfast Community Radio. I was featured in a lengthy interview on the Creative Nexus Radio Show where I was dubbed “Poetry Champion.”

“What if our religion was each other. If our practice was our life. If prayer, our words. What if the temple was the Earth. If forests were our church. If holy water–the rivers, lakes, and ocean. What if meditation was our relationships. If the teacher was life. If wisdom was self-knowledge. If love was the center of our being.” Ganga White, teacher and exponent of Yoga and founder of White Lotus, a Yoga center and retreat house in Santa Barbara, CA

“Every pair of eyes facing you has probably experienced something you could not endure.” Lucille Clifton

Thank you for sharing your love of words. Comments will appear after moderation.

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Unless otherwise noted, the content of this blog, including the photos and text (poems, essays, stories, feature articles), are owned by Jamie Dedes. Links and short excerpts of a post (up to 5 lines) may be used with credit and a link back the post or you may use the Word Press reblog function.

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Contact thepoetbyday@gmail.com with questions or for permissions.

The Poet by Day is an information hub for poets and writers. Featured each week are Calls for Submissions, Contests, Events and other useful news. Responses to WEDNESDAY WRITING PROMPTS are published on the following Tuesday. SEND ANNOUNCEMENTS AND PRESS RELEASES to thepoetbyday@gmail.com

The BeZine fosters understanding through a shared love of the arts and humanities and all things spirited; seeks to make a contribution toward personal healing and deference for the diverse ways people try to make moral, spiritual and intellectual sense of a world in which illness, violence, despair, loneliness and death are as prevalent as hope, friendship, reason and birth. Submissions to Jamie Dedes bardogroup@gmail.com

Actively supports peace, environmental sustainability, social justice and a life of the spirit.

The BeZine

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